Gas fired fireplace basket

ABSTRACT

A gas fired fireplace basket which simulates a coal fire and incorporates a plurality of gas burners beneath a screen which in turn supports a plurality of pieces of noncombustible material in a loosely disposed shallow layer. A transversely extending deepened pocket in the screen locates pieces of the noncombustible material adjacent cut away areas in the front portion of the fire basket.

I Unlted States Patent 1 1 3,582,250

[72] lnvcntor William W. Chatfield [56] References Cited 2| A I N g g gg UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 l PP 1 [2 Filed J 2,1969 2,879,761 3/1959Foster et al. 431/125X 451 Patented June 1, 1911 FOREIGN PATENTS [73]Assignee Armstrong Products Corporation 23,482 1909 Great Britain 126/127 i" Primary ExaminerEdward G. Favors Attorney-Webster B. Harpman [541f fi g i f BASKET ABSTRACT: A gas fired fireplace basket which simulatesa 3 coal fire and incorporates a plurality of gas burners beneath a [52]US. Cl 431/125, screen which in turn supports a plurality of pieces ofnoncom- 126/ 164 bustible material in a loosely disposed shallow layer.A trans- [51] Int. Cl. F2311 13/00 versely extending deepened pocket inthe screen locates [50] Field of Search 431/125; pieces of thenoncombustible material adjacent cut away areas in the front portion ofthe fire basket.

GAS FIRED FIREPLACE BASKET BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of theInvention This invention relates to gas burning devices of the typenormally employed in fireplaces and the like for heating and creating avisually attractive conversation center.

2. Description of the Prior Art Prior structures of this type havelocated the noncombustible material in substantially horizontal layersabove the gas burners so that the heat therefrom is largely directedupwardly unless reflective means are employed. Such devices are found inU.S. Pats. No. 2,362,972 and No. 3,227,149. Other prior artconstructions incorporate means between the burners and thenoncombustible layer of material such as found in U.S. Pat. No.1,259,029 No. 3,087,04l and No. 3,322,179. This invention provides arealistic appearing fire basket arranged so that the noncombustiblematerial heated by the gas burners can and will direct radiant heathorizontally from the basket and over a wide area without the use ofreflective means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A gas firedfireplace basket having gas burnersbeneath and behind a layer of noncombustible material which extends bothhorizontally and vertically so as to direct radiant heat horizontallyand vertically therefrom when said gas burners are operating.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective elevation of the gasfired fireplace basket with some of the noncombustible material removed.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional elevation of the fireplace basket.

FIG. 3 is a front plan view of the fireplace basket.

FIG. 4 is a cross section on line 4-4 of FIG. 3 and section lines 2-2 onFIG. 4 indicate the cross section of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In its preferred form the gasfired fireplace basket of this invention is comprised of spaced endportions a back 11 and an apertured bowed front portion 12 wherein theapertures are indicated at 13. The ends of the front portion 12 aresupported by legs 14 which extend below the lower edge 15 of the frontportion 12 and above the upper edge 16 thereof. Secondary legs 17 aresecured to the back portion II and support the basket thus formed. Theside portions 10 and the back portion 11 are provided with inturnedflanges 18 inwardly from their uppermost edges so that they will supporta section of stainless steel mesh 19. The forward portion of the mesh 19has a vertical flange 20 and an out-turned flange 21 on its lower edgeas best seen in FIGS. 1 and 4 of the drawings. The forward portion ofthe mesh comprising the vertical flange 20 and the out-turned flange 21thus form along with the apertured front portion 12 of the basket atransversely extending pocket in which pieces of noncombustible material22 such as lava ash or the like may be positioned and it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that additional pieces of lavaash or the like are positioned on the horizontal upper surface of themesh 19 so that when the gas fired fire basket is viewed it appears tobe filled with burning coal.

In order that the pieces of noncombustible material 22 may be heated,some to incandescence, a plurality of burner tubes 23 are angularlypositioned in the basket and beneath the stainless steel mesh 19 as bestseen in FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings. Each of the burner tubes 23 isapertured longitudinally thereof as at 24. The foremost ends of theburner tubes 23 are closed and provided with down turned tabs 25 whichregister in slots 26 in a bottom portion 27 of the basket. The apertures24 in the burner tubes 23 are arranged to form 88 ports per row, therows being located 45 from center, 90 apart and those skilled in the artwill observe that the plurality of burner tubes 23, each of which isprovided with two rows of apertures, 24, together with the angularpositioning of the burner tubes 23 provides efficient means for heatingthe noncombustible material 22. Each of the burner tubes 23 includes amixer portion 28 and a communicating section connected with a transversemanifold 29, one end of which is closed and the other end of which isadapted to be placed in communication with the source of fuel gas.

The above described gas fired fireplace basket achieves unusual heatingand visual effects by its novel arrangement of the burner tubes and therelation thereto of the noncombustible material supported in the novelconfiguration by the stainless steel mesh 19 together with therelatively wide open area of the front portion of the basket throughwhich the heated noncombustible material may be readily seen and theradiant heat therefrom delivered horizontally over a wide area.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has beenillustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that various changes and modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. Having thus described myinvention, what I claim is:

I. In a gas fired fireplace basket having an apertured front wall and aperforated horizontal member positioned adjacent the top thereof forholding pieces of noncombustible material in elevated relation therein,said perforated member having a portion thereof adjacent said aperturedfront wall offset with respect to the remainder by a vertical portionthereof which is spaced with respect to said apertured front wall andforming a narrow vertical area for additional pieces of saidnoncombustible material arranged in a vertical layer against saidapertured front wall, gas burners positioned beneath the horizontal andoffset portions of said perforated member and means for connecting saidburners to a fuel source.

2. The gas fired fireplace basket set forth in claim 1 and wherein theapertures are located in the upper half thereof

1. In a gas fired fireplace basket having an apertured front wall and aperforated horizontal member positioned adjacent the top thereof forholding pieces of noncombustible material in elevated relation therein,said perforated member having a portion thereof adjacent said aperturedfront wall offset with respect to the remainder by a vertical portionthereof which is spaced with respect to said apertured front wall andforming a narrow vertical area for additional pieces of saidnoncombustible material arranged in a vertical layer against saidapertured front wall, gas burners positioned beneath the horizontal andoffset portions of said perforated member and means for connecting saidburners to a fuel source.
 2. The gas fired fireplace basket set forth inclaim 1 and wherein the apertures are located in the upper half thereofand comprise an area equal to at least half the area of said upper halfof said front wall.
 3. The gas fired fireplace basket set forth in claim1 and wherein the burners are tubular burners arranged in said basket inangular relation from the front to the rear of said basket with thefront portions of said burners lying beneath the offset portion of saidperforated member and the back portions of said burners lying adjacentthe rearmost edge of said perforated member.